Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Yorkville 115 educator carries forth 50-year Square Dance Jubilee tradition

Transcript

Yorkville 115 educator carries forth 50-year Square Dance Jubilee tradition · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Yorkville one hundred and fifteen educator carries forth fifty years
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Square Dance Jubilee tradition. Written by Joey Weslow, this article
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: by Everlett. For more than fifty years, a tradition of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: fun has connected generations of Yorkville students with the community's past.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: For educator Mary Geary, the annual Square Dance Jubilee is
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: all about coming full circle. Geary is a paraprofessional at
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yorkville Middle School who recently took over stewardship of the jubilee.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The responsibility takes on extra prominence for her because Geary
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and her sister Madonna, were students during the first Square
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Dance Jubilee in nineteen seventy five. Geary said she looks
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: back with fondness on the day when physical education teachers
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Patsy Muthra and Scott Lucan started the tradition. She said
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: she hopes to carry on their legacy in the life
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: she gives the next generation of students. She thanked both
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: teachers for being dedicated to all their students and for
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: being great pillars of the community. Geary said she gets
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a laugh out of how awkward the student's first few
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: steps can be before they gain the confidence to grab
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a partner and give them a whirl. I remember my
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: first steps as a seventh grader. It's a little awkward,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: but very fun. Geary said. With the students, I try
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to get them to relax, enjoy themselves, and really be
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: in the moment. It's all inclusive and has a way
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of bringing everyone together. Gary said she's seen the town
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: grow and evolve over the decades, adding that she can
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: still sense the shared heart of the community. She said
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that heart has helped the Jubilee tradition survive for so
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: many years. While that and hard work, dedication, and a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: great sense of family within the Yorkville one fifteen educational system.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Geary said the roots of the town have always been
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: family oriented, adding that she knows a lot about having
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: grown up in a family of ten brothers and seven sisters.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: The McNeil family has been a part of the Yorkville
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: community since nineteen sixty three. Geary said her family has
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: always had a great sense of pride in the Yorkville community,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: from several of her brothers playing football for the Yorkville
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Foxes to years of community involvement. Seeing her students learn
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: their first dance steps reminds Geary of her own unsure
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: first dance moves. It gives me a sense of pride
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: being able to experience it now as an educator and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: an adult, seeing how the kids are enjoying it so much,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: just like I did more than fifty years ago, Geary said.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Geary's contribution to the community wasn't limited to just gymnasiums.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: On April eighth, the Yorkville Educational Foundation announced Geary was
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: one of the non Certified Employee of the Year finalists
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: for the Fostering the Future Awards. Geary said she hopes
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the next batch of kids learns to love the square
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: dance tradition enough to continue it long and time the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: future